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practicing lawyers in Brooklyn

Brooklyn is a bastion of strong historical figures and abolitionists from the 19th century.

The history of Brooklyn as a diverse city began in 1790 where about 1/3 of the people in Kings County (which later became known as Brooklyn) were black slaves. By 1827, many of the slaves were freed and a recession a decade later allowed the former slaves to buy land. While Brooklyn was built on sugar, cotton, and tobacco, all principally supported by the slave business, the city has grown past this sordid past.

An exhibition on Brooklyn Abolitionists exists in the city and brings light to the efforts of influential abolitionists of the past. Elizabeth Gloucester, for one, was a black abolitionist who invested in real estate in Brooklyn and died one of the wealthiest women in the US.